Speed-changing mechanism for automobiles.



PATENTED JUNE 25, 1907.

P. J. ZEGLER.

SPEED CHANGING MEGHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILES.

'v APPLICATION FILED FEB. 27, 1907.

merrain sra-ras rairnnr FRDERICK J. ZIEGLER, F NEW YORK, N. Y.

-To all wiz/0m it may cen/cern:

Be it known that E, Fnnnnnion J. ZIEGLER, a citizen ofthe United States, residing in N ew York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have invented certain rear axle and are operated by means of a longitudinally' movable lever -operated rod mounted on the body of the car. lt has been found that owing to the up-and-down rmovement of the car-cody on the springs when the car is in motion the lever-operated rod referred to will not cause the 'gears of the speedchanging mechanism to properlymesh with each other, this being due to the variation in the longitudinal movement of the operating rod. Under these conditions it is impossible to ascertain, when the operating lever is in a predetermined position, what lrelation the gears hear to each other, and accordinghT this arrangement of the speed changing mechanism is nnrelial'ile and. unsatisfactory.

The present invention sims to obviate the above defects and to provide a speed-changing mechanism in which the shifting movement of the gears is produced in such a manner that the positions` of the operating lever and of the gears exactly correspond irrespective of the movement of the car-body on the springs. To this end I provide a geanshifting fork which is shifted by the rotation of an operating shaft which is formed of ytelescopirng sections, so that the rotation .of said rod and consequentlythe shifting of the gears. will not he affected b v the differ* ence in the relative positions of the speedchanging gears and the operating lever.

The novel features of the invention will now be described and tiren recited in the appended claims. f

n the accompanying drawings, in which the same." reference characters denote the same parts throughout the several views, Figure l. is a -plan view of a speed -changing mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention, the car-bod),T being removed in orderato show the gcanshifting mechan- Speeication of Letters Patent. Application tiled February 27, 1907. Serial No. 359,586.

Patented June 25, l'?.

ism, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in l, and Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3--3, Fig. 1.

ln the drawings M denotes the motor of the automobile, which is supported at the front of the same in the usual manner.

A. denotes the rear axle. Connection is made vbetiwen the motor and rear axle by means of a driving shaft comi'iosed ol two telescopic keyed sections ll, lll, the section H extending intothe casing D of the speed changing mechanism in the usual manner. Upon the motor-shaft are arranged gears J,

K, l., adapted to be shifted longitudinallv' into mesh with corresponding gears E, lf, G, mounted on a stud-shalt l). Said studshaft P carries at one end a beveled gear (I, which meshes with a second heveled gear B mounted on the rear axle A. The parts so far described are of well known construction.

The invention consists particularly in thel mechanism lor shifting the gears on the motor-shaft rclativel)r to those on the stud-' shaft. The gears el, K, li are mounted upon a sleeve 71', which is keyed to butslidable along the section llof the motor-fallait within the casing vD. This sleeve is formed with two parallel collars l, lf2, between which a shifting forli N engages. The shifting fork is shifted longitudinally Vwithin the gearcasing in order toproperlv actua to the motorshaft gears, hy means of an operating shaft R, Rl, which, like the imotor shaft, is composed of two telescopically-arranged keyed sections. Wlithin the gear-casing D the section'll of said operating shaft is threaded, as shown, and said threaded portion engages a threaded extension N2 of the shifting fork N se tbatsaid fork is moved longitudinally in the rear-casing in e. direction corresponding to hat in which the operating shaft is rotated.

The forward section R1 of the extensible operating shaft is ionrnaled in the car frame as shown in Fig. l, and is provided at its .forward end with a small beveled gear S. Meshing with said beveled gear is a second beveled gear T, mounted upon a stud-shalt 7i. The shaft of the beveled gear 'l` has applied to one end thereof a lever ll, which extends upwardhr beside the drivers seat and by means of which said gear T may be rotated. The

IOO

shaft It, lt is provided with universal joints 1', 1, one near the change-speed-easing, and the other near the gear S.

The operation of the device is as follows: It is obvious that when the. beveled gear T is rotated by means of the operating .lever U the operatingy shaft l, lil will be rotated and the shifting; fork will be moved longitudinally along the threaded part of the section It, thereby movingl the gears J, K, L longitlb dinally on the motor-slnii't. The direction in which these gears are moved depends upon that in which the lever U is moved, as will be understood. .frceordingiy the gears may be shifted in order to ehange the. speed through the rotation of the operatingr shaft R, R1. During this rotary action of the shaft the movement imparted to the shifting fork and gears will not be alected by the relative positions of the change-speed-easing, which is supported on the rear axle, and the operating lever, which is mounted on the ear-frame. The universal joints r, r1 together with the telescopic shafts compensate for the disalinement brought about by the motion of the car- 'frame on the springs.

By the arrangement described not only is the shifting of the gears made very positive but it can also be determined into exactly what position the operating lever should be moved in order to prodnee the required movement of the gears and consequently the proper meshingr and unmeshing of the gears can at all times be obtained.

Havingr thus deseribed my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1 ln speed-rhanging; mechanism for automobiles having' transmission ,gears supported b v the rear axle thereof, the combination, with a. n'iotor-shaft arranged at right angles to the rear axle and gears slidable on said motor-shaft to cooperate with said transmissenese sion gears, of a shifting fork for said motorshaft gears, and a rotary extensible operating shaft' parallel to the motor-shaft by which said shifting fork is operated.

2. In speed-changing mechanisms Ylor automobiles, the combination ith a motorshaft and the gears slidable thereon, of a shifting fork for said gears, and an extensible operating shaft upon which the said shifting fork is threaded.

3. In speed-changing mechanisms for automobiles, the combination with a motor-shaft and thewgears slidabie thereon, of a shiltingr forli for said `nears, and an operating shaft composed of two telescopio sec tions and upon which said shifting fork is threaded.

4. In speed-changing mechanisms for antomobiles, the combination with a motor-shaft and the gears slidable thereon, of a shifting fork for saidv gears, and a rotary longitudinally-extensible universally-jointed operatine device vfor said fork,

o, The combination, with a motor-shaft having speed-changing gears slidable thereon.

of. a teleseopically arranged operating shaft having a. threaded sect-ion, a shifting fork for said gears threaded on said section, and

means whereby said shaft may be manually rotated.

6. In a speed-elranging` mechanism having gears, a shifting' fork for said gears, a rotary extensible rod threaded Within said fork, a beveled gear at one end of said rod, a second beveled gearmeshing with said iirst.na1ned ge ar, a sha-ft for said second gear, and an oper-- ating leveren said shaft.

In testimony, that he claims the foregoing as his invention, he has signed his rame in of two subscribing witnesses.

FRED. J. ZIEGLER.

Witnesses:

Loifis LANDE, C. P/GonPEL. 

